A/N: Alright, second last chapter of Osaka. Well, last one in a way. I liked writing this chapter. Eisuke and Hidemi are my favourites.
The second file: Changes in life
Sub-file two: Okonomiyaki
Once he was allowed, Shugo began visiting Eisuke regularly. Usually during those times, Hidemi was visiting too. She was somewhat somber though, as if something was about to happen. Something bad…
"Hime-neechan? Are you alright?"
The girl stopped and glanced behind her, guilty look in her eyes. Shugo was standing a few meters behind her in the empty corridor of the hospital. The two of them had gone to get some drinks from an automat when Shugo had noticed the teen's mood dropping rapidly. And even now, when confronted, she wasn't able to mask it like when she was with Eisuke.
"S-Shugo-kun, what are you talking about?" The girl let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm perfectly fine, just worried about Ei-chan."
Shugo smiled sadly at her assurances.
"Hime-neechan… Everything will be alright."
"Say, Shugo-kun… Why do you call me 'princess'?" Hidemi asked in an attempt to change the topic.
"Hm? Well, that's easy. Because all those alphabets are found in your name in a reasonable order. I also considered 'Himi-chan' for secret but… I think you are very pretty too, Pretty- oneesan. That's why you are Hime-neechan." Shugo smiled, this time brightly.
"Thank you, Shugo-kun. But don't go falling on me. I'm too old for you." The girl giggled. Good, she wasn't that sad anymore. She didn't deserve to be sad now. She had such a hard road ahead of her...
"Fall? I'm not tripping on anything. That's Ei-chan's forte." The boy blinked innocently. Hidemi just laughed and waved him over. Shugo jogged to her and she crouched down in front of the boy, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"Hime-neechan?"
"Shugo-kun. I need to go away quite soon. Meanwhile, will you watch after Ei-chan?" The teen girl asked, her voice full of seriousness. The shrunken boy watched her in silence until she seemed to start fidgeting. Then he smiled softly.
"Don't worry, Hime-neechan. I'll watch after him. And someday… I'll also have your back too. I promise."
With those words Shugo dashed off, leaving the shocked girl standing there. That was the last he saw of her in a long time…
"What are you doing?"
Tap tap tap…
"Shugo, seriously, what are you doing this time?" Yamato slammed his hands on the table but the boy paid no heed on him.
"Midorikawa!"
"Huh?" Shugo looked up from his computer screen. "You said something, Yamato?"
"I asked what are you doing? After Eisuke-kun was released from the hospital, you've spend time about all the time with him when he isn't at school but since yesterday you've just typed and typed and typed…." The blonde man explained angrily. "You stayed up all night!"
"And what if I did?" Shugo squinted before hiding a massive yawn behind his hand.
"Shugo. While you may have the mind of an high schooler, you are still physically a child thus you need sleep. So either you tell me what's so damn important for you to work with day and night or I take your computer away for the rest of the summer."
"Y-You can't do that!"
"Yes, I can. I'm older than you here and in response of you."
Shugo scowled and looked away then. The action would have more effect if the boy hadn't happened to yawn again.
"Does this have something to do with Hidemi-chan?" Yamato asked with a sigh as he sat down opposite the computer geek. The boy tilted his head with a thoughtful frown on his face.
"...Not directly. It was her plead and actions in general that made me think."
"Think about what?"
"One other person that could be of use. If we manage to save her life that is. And then she'd need to hide. Which is why I've been creating this new identity lately."
"Let me guess… She is going to be part of this messed up family you've been creating?" Yamato's voice was practically laced with sarcasm.
"Well… I suppose so but you don't really have a say if it's messed up or not." Shugo shrugged, turning back to his work. "In any case the last decision is on her. If she wants to take up my offer…"
"What sort of role she'd have then?" Oh, now he was curious. Shugo frowned at the platinum blond man but began his explanation.
"Takenaka Saya, older sister of Shugo and Hoshi who was raised by their aunt and uncle since she was little… The parents were even more out of the country back then and honestly Saya was an 'accident'. But uncle and auntie Takenaka raised her as their own at Hokkaido thus she didn't have much contact with Shugo or Hoshi… All in all they consider each other as cousins rather than siblings."
When Shugo had ended his explanation, Yamato's eyebrows that normally were quite hidden underneath his bangs had vanished completely. The man let out a low whistle.
"Wow… that really is messed up."
"True. But in the case she refuses to use this, it's easy to delete too. Although I will add some information due the time to all of these fakes… But for now these will suffice."
"Good." Yamato reached over and snatched the laptop from the boy ignoring the dismayed yell Shugo let out when reaching for the device back. "It's time for you to get some sleep."
"But I don't want to…"
"Stop pouting and spread out your futon. You need sleep despite your own personal opinion about the matter."
One look at Yamato and it was clear the man was serious. The shrunken teenager sighed deep and gave up the argument. To be honest he was quite tired indeed. Maybe some sleep would do some good after all…
"Way too good." Shugo mumbled while eating okonomiyaki. It was a nice sunny day at the end of spring. The summer holidays would start in couple of weeks.
"I told you." Eisuke grinned. "This is the best okonomiyaki in town."
"Too true." The computer genius continued eating. Opposite him Yamato chuckled and continued a conversation with Ethan who was observing the two boys.
"Well, it seems it was a good idea to get Shugo-kun out of his hidey hole." The platinum blond man mused.
"'Hidey hole'? How so?" The CIA agent asked with mild interest.
"He has his own little projects he works with until falling asleep in the middle. And because we just recently moved here he hasn't had an opportunity to get many friends yet."
"But schools started, didn't they? And I get the impression Shugo-kun makes friends easily." To emphasize his point, Ethan, glanced to the direction of the boys who were chatting happily. Shugo looked up.
"I don't go to school right now." The boy told. "Because we are moving after summer again. So Yamato-niichan is teaching me everything I need to know before it. And the school books are easy."
"Oh, I see."
"Shugo, come. I'll introduce you to Souhei-niisan." Eisuke tugged the other boy's sleeve and the two left their seats. Yamato observed the behavior of the two with a smile on his face.
"It seems Eisuke-kun is doing some good for Shugo-kun." The blonde mused.
"Is that so?" Ethan hummed before changing into questioning mode. The other man and his ward had piqued the agent's interest and now when the children were out of earshot, he could fish for some information. "Say, Ishikawa-san… What could possibly be the reason for you to move so often? With a child to take care of at that?"
Yamato smirked. He'd been waiting for that. "Saa… I wonder it too. There is several reasons but they all connect to Crows circling their prey. When you shoot down one of those Crows, the rest are guaranteed to retaliate. Personally I'm just glad to have surfaced from those dark depths before sinking any deeper."
The CIA agent blinked. He understood the metaphor perfectly. After all about a week ago he'd used a similar one to his CIA colleagues he'd had with him at the restaurant. And if he remembered correctly… It just might've been Yamato who'd been sitting on the table next to theirs, his back towards the Company's workers.
"You…"
"I'm hiding if that's what you wanted to hear. I can help you with some information in order to get deeper but… I recommend you not to sink too fast. While a bait might get stuck in the throat of some greedy fish, there's also some who will see a bait as a bait." Yamato sighed and took a sip from his beer.
"What did you do? To get out?"
"I made sure the first person to be sent after me wouldn't do so… because he also wanted to kill the Crow I did."
"Who was it then?" Was the older man thinking he'd get further by this contact? Fat chance.
"If I were you, I'd stay the hell away from him. He has no problems of killing people in cold blood. He doesn't even bother to remember the names and faces of the people he has killed. As for me… I'm probably the only person who he wouldn't kill. And that's only because I'm his younger brother. But I betrayed the Organization so there's no way my name would help you to get in their good books. Just do your job like you best do. I'm certain you have skills for that…"
"This brother of yours… Who is he?" Ethan was frowning. The conversation hadn't gone exactly to the way he'd wanted to. But he did know now at least a bit more about his conversation partner.
"To the Organization… his codename is Gin. And that's all you need to know."
"I see…" Ethan took his glass to take sip while - unbeknowist to him and Yamato - a photo was being taken.
Meanwhile by the counter of the okonomiyaki shop, Eisuke was introducing Shugo to the shop owner's grandson Nishigun Souhei.
"Yo, kids. Eating ojii-san's okonomiyaki again until you burst?" Souhei joked.
"Hai! It's really good." Eisuke smiled brightly.
"It really is. The best I've ever eaten." Shugo continued.
"That's good to hear. Ojii-san's okonomiyaki is great indeed." The young man grinned, placing his bag on the floor but the film camera that he'd had hanging around his neck, on the counter.
"Whoa, is that a new one?" The two boy's climbed on the stools to get a better look on the camera.
"Quite new, Tago and I went to buy new cameras a few weeks back." Souhei told them.
"Can we look closer?" Shugo asked curiously while Eisuke was peering into the camera's lens.
"Sure, just be careful." The man smiled and went to order his dish. Eisuke lifted the camera up and turned it from side to side, looking at it from all 360 degrees.
"It's cool." The generally clumsy boy stated.
"True. I want to have a camera like this too." Shugo was nodding. Back home he'd really liked photographing.
"Me too!" Eisuke exclaimed and accidentally pressed the shutter when the camera almost slipped away from his grasp. Shugo went to catch it though and disaster was prevented.
"Maybe… We should just leave this be…" The shrunken computer geek suggested, placing the camera on the table right when Souhei came back. Eisuke nodded and inched a bit farther from the device… until he toppled down from the stool.
"Ouch!" Tears prickled the corners of the clumsy boy's eyes when he sat up, holding his head. Shugo slipped down from his seat and kneeled next to his friend.
"You okay, Ei-chan?" He asked. At the tables, away from the pair, Ethan was sighing and beginning to make his way towards them. Yamato just sat at his seat and watched the event fold out.
And Souhei took a picture of the two boys.
A letter was dropped down on the table in front of Shugo. Yamato sat opposite the boy, eating ice cream. Summer holidays had started and the air conditioning of their apartment was broken so it was almost boiling in there. The man's usual attire in the house was boxer and t-shirt while Shugo preferred capri-length sweatpants and a simple sleeveless shirt.
"That came this morning." Yamato told the boy who was looking at the stamp and the sender's address. It was from Kuroba Chikage, one of the two people who had their new address. And probably the only person who understood why they had left. Kudou Yusaku was the other one but for now he was being kept out of the loop in regards of the Organization.
Dreading to know what the letter was about, after all Chikage hadn't sent any previous ones, Shugo ripped it open. Inside was a formal looking, black card. On the card was hand-written with white ink… an invitation to the funerals.
"Toichi-san…"
A/N: Toichi is dead. TTATT The funerals are in the next chapter. So Shugo goes to visit Tokyo briefly before the move... And I've planned something else for the chapter too... :)
Review Reply:
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Nice username...
Thank you, that's great to hear. About Akai... he won't appear yet. but Masumi... Hmm-hmm-hmmm... ;)